Returned to lender The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
Harvesting Bamboo Shoots in Winter
Tōensai Kanshi Japanese
Not on view
This painting parodies the classical Chinese story of Meng Zong (Japanese: Mōsō), one of the Twenty-four Paragons of Filial Piety, who faithfully tended the needs of his ailing mother. In the middle of winter, Meng's mother requested he prepare a meal of bamboo shoots for her. His deep devotion was acknowledged and rewarded by the gods as he found copious amounts of fresh bamboo emerging through a heavy layer of snow.
In this painting, Kanshi has replaced Meng with a young woman, wearing a straw cape and large hat to protect her from the snow falling steadily in large flakes. Her hand to her cheek, she smiles with a slightly surprised expression as bamboo shoots push through the snow in a ring at her feet.
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